Risto Mannisenmäki (born on 28 May 1959) is a former
rally co-driver and two-times
world champion with driver
Tommi Mäkinen.
Career
Mannisenmäki begun his career
in 1982 and was co-driving for various drivers such as
Tommi Mäkinen,
Sebastian Lindholm and
Ari Mökkönen
Ari may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Ari (name), a name in various languages, including a list of people and fictional characters
* Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534–1572), Jewish rabbinical scholar and mystic known also as Ari
* Ari (foot ...
in local rallies.
In 1996 and
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, Risto was the permanent co-driver of
Tapio Laukkanen
Tapio Laukkanen (born 23 September 1969) is a Finnish rally driver. He was born in Lahti.
In 1996 he won the Finnish Rally Championship in a Volkswagen Golf GTi, in 1999 he won the British Rally Championship with a Renault Mégane Maxi twinned wi ...
and participated in both Finnish and British local rally series, as well as a few
WRC rallies.
For the
1998 season, Mannisenmäki moved on to co-drive with Tommi Mäkinen, after the retirement of
Seppo Harjanne. Together, they won the World Rally Championship
in 1998 and
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
, and were 5th in the
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
championships.
During the
Rally of Corsica in the
2001 WRC season, both were involved in a major
accident where the Lancer driven by Mäkinen and Mannisenmäki ricocheted off of the outside wall into steep cliff-face, turning the car over and narrowly avoiding plunging down the ravine on the opposite side of the road. In the accident, the passenger-side of the Lancer was heavily damaged, breaking Mannisenmäki's back, forcing an end to his co-driving career.
However, after a two-year hiatus, Mannisenmäki returned to participate in a WRC stage, the last in his career, at the
Wales rally
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 202 ...
in
the 2003 WRC season, as the co-driver for
Juuso Pykälistö
Juuso Pykälistö (born 21 May 1975) is a Finnish rally driver, born in Padasjoki. He has driven in the World Rally Championship with Citroën and Peugeot. Pykälistö has won the Arctic Rally twice. His best showing was 8th in 2005 at Sardinia. ...
. Both finished in 9th position in this rally which also happened to be Mäkinen's final WRC start.
Mannisenmäki won the ''
Vuoden Moottoriurheilija'' title (engl. Motorsport athlete of the year) in 1999 with Tommi Mäkinen and
Mika Häkkinen. Mannisenmäki has been active in rally coaching programs before, and retiring from co-driving, he was chosen
in 2004 as
AKK-Motorsport's rally coach.
References
External links
Profile at ewrc-results.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mannisenmaki, Risto
1959 births
Living people
Finnish rally co-drivers
World Rally Championship co-drivers